And then there were two.
Ohio State and Notre Dame emerged as finalists of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff and will meet in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20 in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Buckeyes (13-2) punched their ticket with a 28-14 Cotton Bowl win over Texas (13-3) in a semifinal on Friday, a goal-line stand and 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown providing the final margin.
The Irish (14-1) qualified one night earlier in the Orange Bowl, outlasting Penn State (13-3) in a historic 27-24 semifinal that saw four lead changes and three ties.
Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman became the first Black and Asian American head coach to lead a team into an FBS title game with that victory.
Freeman will be opposing his alma mater, having once donned a silver helmet adorned with Buckeyes as a linebacker on 2007 and 2008 BCS championship game runner-up teams.
Notre Dame, seeded No. 7, reached the title game by defeating Indiana (27-17, first round), Georgia (23-10, Sugar Bowl) and Penn State in order.
The Irish feature dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard and home run threat Jeremiyah Love at tailback.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Defensively, Notre Dame leads the nation with 32 takeaways and is strong up front and sticky in pass coverage in the secondary.
The Buckeyes, like the Irish, played host to an on-campus first-round game, beating Tennessee 42-17, before avenging their first loss of the season at Oregon by beating the Ducks 41-21 in the Rose Bowl.
Coach Ryan Day’s Ohio State team has been clicking on all cylinders of late, its nine potential first-round picks appearing in peak form throughout the playoff.
Kansas State quarterback transfer Will Howard appears dialed in with vertical threat Emeka Egbuka, while Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson provide juice out of the backfield.
Defensive end Jack Sawyer anchors a defense that turned back Texas in the final minutes after the Longhorns were set up with a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
It was Sawyer’s strip sack of Texas’ Quinn Ewers and 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown with 2:13 left that clinched the game.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Irish and Longhorns traveled a new path in reaching the championship game, as the previous CFP format allowed only four teams to make the playoff.
Neither the No. 7-seeded Irish nor the No. 8-seeded Buckeyes would have made the field this season had last year’s four-team format been applied.
Notre Dame, an independent that suffered a 16-14 home loss to Mid-American Conference member Northern Illinois earlier in the season, finished No. 5 in the rankings as determined by the 13-member CFP Selection Committee.
That same committee had Ohio State sixth in the CFP rankings after the Buckeyes suffered a shocking 13-10 home loss to a 7-5 Michigan team that prevented them from facing No. 1-ranked Oregon in the Big Ten championship game.
Conference championships, as it turned out, weren’t as beneficial as many thought.
None of the four teams that received the top four seeds and accompanying first-round byes after winning their respective league title games — Oregon (Big Ten), Georgia (SEC), Boise State (Mountain West), Arizona State (Big 12) — won a game in this year’s College Football Playoff.
That’s not to say this year’s championship game lacks allure.
ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit said last week that, ‘We’ll take Ohio State every year, Notre Dame, this is a ratings bonanza.”
It’s only the ninth game ever between the traditional powerhouses, though the schools cross paths regularly on the recruiting trails.
The Buckeyes have won the past six meetings, including both ends of a home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023, topping the Irish 21-10 in Columbus, before a 17-14 victory in South Bend last season.
The Irish haven’t had bragging rights in the series since sweeping a home-and-home with an 18-13 leather-helmeted win in 1935 and 7-2 victory at Notre Dame Stadium in 1936.
The last time Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted a CFP championship game, Georgia and Alabama staged a contested — and controversial — classic.
The Crimson Tide won 26-23 in an overtime thriller that was decided after Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench in relief of starter Jalen Hurts and hit DeVonta Smith with a 41-yard game-winning touchdown pass on a second-and-26 play.
Notre Dame and Ohio State are no strangers to Mercedes-Benz Stadium either.
The Irish played there earlier this season, defeating Georgia Tech 31-13 on Oct. 19.
The Buckeyes closed out their 2022 season with a 42-41 CFP semifinal loss to eventual national champ Georgia in the Peach Bowl. A potential game-winning 50-yard field goal went wide at the stroke of midnight.
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